Biggles Flies West/plot
Prologue This chapter historical backdrop to the main events in the book. Louis Dakeyne, a notorious pirate has captured a British ship and is preparing to execute her captain, John Chandler. However before dying, Chandler tells the pirates that among the loot they had taken from his ship is a gold doubloon which is cursed. Soon their ship is severely damaged in a hurricane, Bitter infighting between those who want to jettison the treasure and those loyal to Dakeyne halves the crew. The remaining followers of the Dakeyne desert him, leaving him alone on the hulk. The ship, by a strange coincidence, runs aground in a cove on a small island. Dakeyne goes ashore to hide the gold coins in a dell hole but fails to note the one gold doubloon still caught in his clothing. Soon he is killed by an accidental discharge of his own pistol. Chapter 1: An ugly customer Fifteen year old Dick Denver has just learnt that his father, a sailor, is dead. A friend has brought a letter he had written to Dick before he died. Dick cannot bring himself to open the letter but there is a knock on the door and an unsavoury character, obviously another mariner, barges in, insisting on seizing the letter. Dick escapes downstairs and bumps into Biggles, Algy and Ginger, who decide to help eject the intruder and retrieve Dick's letter. Chapter 2: The doubloon Over a meal at a cafe, Dick opens the letter and out comes a gold doubloon! It's better to read the letter in private, so they take a taxi to Mount Street. The cabbie drives recklessly and crashes the car against a lamp post. Biggles and co. are fortunately unhurt but the taxi driver can't understand what came over him. Chapter 3: The Letter Biggles reads the letter at Dick's request. In it, Dick's father Jack Denver tells how he had set sail on the Seadream with an unpleasant first mate named Deutch who was often drunk. The ship began to flounder after being severely damaged in a hurricane. The crew abandoned ship but only five men, including Deutch and Jack managed to get away in a boat. They were adrift for two weeks before reaching a small island by which time only three of them were still alive. While exploring the island, Jack stumbled on the wreck of an old galleon, the Santa Anna where he finds a skeleton, a small map and a gold doubloon. When Jack got back to the others, Deutch demanded to know where the doubloon came from. Jack refused and the regularly violent Deutch drew his knife. Jack's friend Charlie Bender tried to defend him and was stabbed dead instead. Jack then ran away and hid until a ship, the Portsdown stopped by and picked both survivors up. Even after reaching Boston, Deutch continued to threaten Jack, promising to kill him unless he divulged where he found the coin. Fearing for his life, Jack therefore wrote the letter to Dick and enclosed a map he had made. When Dick was old enough, he should consider searching for the wreck because there was most likely a treasure inside. Chapter 4: Biggles Makes a Proposition Biggles proposes to mount an expedition and split any treasure 50-50, half to Dick and half to him, Algy and Ginger. Dick readily agrees but now Mrs Symes notices some mud and a pool of water at the doorway. Someone has been listening at the door and it could have been Deutch! Chapter 5: Unexpected Difficulties Biggles and co. cross the Atlantic by ship. At New York, Biggles buys a Sikorsky amphibian and they head south to their planned jump-off point of Marabina, capital of a small Central American country where there was a Pan-American depot. There they hit their first obstacle when Mallichore, the local chief of police, locks them claiming that their papers are not in order. Everything becomes clear when Biggles sees Mallichore walking down the street with Deutch! He should never have underestimated his adversaries, Biggles tells the others. Chapter 6: Tragic Events The next morning Biggles sees their amphibian taking off. After getting the policemen to open the cell door, he pushes past them and they run out towards the Pan-American depot on the waterfront. The staff there tell him Deutch had taken the plane with a pilot named Harvey plus two local ruffians Frisco Jack and Pedro Martinez. Biggles offers to buy or rent the Pan-American reserve flying boat but needs his cheque book. The four of them dash back to the police station to confront Mallichore and get their belongings back. Mallichore hands them over but tries to keep the doubloon. Biggles jumps at him to get it back but sidesteps quickly when he notices a policeman raising his rifle. The weapon goes off and kills Mallichore by accident. Stopping for nothing, the four of them run back to the depot where Biggles hurriedly signs a cheque for the plane. Policeman are running towards them. They pile on board and take off just in time and head for the islands they were planning to search. Chapter 7: The Hurricane Enroute, Biggles begins to speculate that Dick's doubloon seems to be a "hoodoo"--so much violence seems to strike those who had it, Charlie Bender, Dick's father and Mallichore, to name a few. An island comes in view but the aircraft gets caught in a hurricane. A bird strike smashes one propellor and the plane loses height rapidly. Biggles tries to reach the island but doesn't quite make it. They must jump and swim for it. Dick goes first. He manages to struggle onto a beach but is swept off by a wave. Chapter 8: Wrecked Algy and Ginger jump next and get ashore. They watch helplessly as the aircraft is swept further offshore and then wrecked. There's no sign of Biggles. They find Dick's jacket with the doubloon in it. Ginger is about to throw the coin away when they hear a rifle shot. If the island is inhabited, the gold might come in useful. Too late, they discover the shot comes from Frisco Jack. Deutch is here! Algy and Ginger are taken prisoner. Perdo Martinez takes the coin from Ginger. Chapter 9: What Happened to Dick Dick is also washed ashore unconscious. After coming to, he explores the island and discovers Algy and Ginger tied up. He tries to get a razor from the sleeping Martinez but he wakes up and gives chase. The big ruffian catches Dick and is about to kill him when a shot rings out and he falls. Dick's rescuer is strangely dressed in a striped shirt, red bandana and carries a cutlass a pistol. Biggles! How? Chapter 10: What Happened to Biggles Meanwhile, Biggles had been swept in the wrecked plane towards an islet at the tip of the main island. It's now or never so he jumps off before being carried further offshore. On top of the islet is a fort. Exploring it, he finds various old weapons and clothing abandoned by the former garrison. He dresses himself and takes a cutlass and some flintlock pistols and swims across to the main island to look for the others. He arrives just in time to see Martinez about to kill Dick. Fortunately he had loaded the pistol. He takes hasty aim and fires. Chapter 11: The Rescue Biggles and Dick move off to rescue Algy and Ginger. They find Deutch alone. Biggles holds him up while Dick cuts the prisoners free. Biggles plans to retrieve their amphibian which is just offshore but it suddenly starts up and takes off. Harvey was on it! They have to hurry--Frisco Jack had gone off earlier and is now coming back with the wounded Martinez. Grabbing some of the foodstuffs which Deutch had stolen from the plane, they board an inflatable canoe and make their escape. Chapter 12: A Lucky Fall The team regroups at the fort. After eating and dressing themselves in more old clothes, they move back to the main island to search for the galleon. Biggles had retrieved their map from Deutch but it is not much help given the thick undergrowth. They hear Deutch and Frisco Jack approaching and dash into a thicket for cover. Algy falls and grabs Biggles who loses his balance. The ground below them seems to cave in and they find themselves inside the galleon! Chapter 13: Revelations In the saloon of the galleon, they find a skeleton. Reading the logbook, Biggles reveals that it's Louis Dakeyne. The log entries mention Joseph Bawn's cursed doubloon which confirms Biggles' surmise about what has been happening. There is also mention of more doubloons but no sign of it in the ship. Chapter 14: Dick Goes Ashore While on sentry duty at the fort, Dick has the idea that the clue to the treasure might have been scratched on his doubloon so he deserts his post and crosses to the main island. He finds the coin in the hole where Biggles had kicked it into. He jumps in, takes the doubloon and places it on the edge but then has to duck back inside when he hears Deutch and Frisco Jack approaching. Frisco spots the coin and wants to keep it. Deutch disagrees and they argue, ending up with Frisco being stabbed to death. Feeling around inside the hole, Jack discovers even more doubloons. Lots of them. But he is too frightened to do anything except run back to the boat and paddle back to the fort. Biggles reprimands him for disobeying orders. Chapter 15: The Attack The next morning, Biggles and co. explore Dick's treasure. Always the thorough planner, Biggles asks Algy to first fetch a barrel of gunpowder from the galleon and bring it to the fort.Ginger is to stock up on coconuts. Only then do they attend to the task of ferrying the gold coins over. But now Harvey has come back, accompanied by a large force of Marabina soldiers or policemen who have arrived on a coastguard ketch. Our friends dash for the boat. Algy trips and spills the last load of a few coins but there's no time to pick them up. The soldiers give up their pursuit to pick up the coins so that by the time they start shooting with the rifles, Biggles and co. have almost reached the fort. From across the water, Deutch offers terms under a flag of truce. Show him where the gold is and he will give them a passage home. Nothing doing, Biggles replies. Biggles gets ready for an attack, arming the antique cannon, muskets and a swivel gun. The soldiers attempt to cross to the fort using a small boat but are beaten off with a combination of musket fire and a swivel gun loaded with grapeshot. Chapter 16: Warm Work The soldiers try again, this time using the ketch to approach the islet. Biggles and co. open fire with the cannon. The ship is damaged but manages to discharge a small party of men including Deutch. There is a last ditch hand to hand fight on the ramparts of the fort. Deutch goes for Biggles and gets the upper hand but is shot by Dick. The survivors of the Marabina force pull out. Chapter 17: Explanations A Royal Navy destroyer arrives and it's no coincidence. Dick's father is on board! He had recovered from his wounds and gone to Jamaica. The navy was interested in his discovery of a galleon of historical value and sent a destroyer to investigate. The ship had been attracted by the sound of the gunfire. The navy takes charge of the gold and the Sikorsky amphibian is retrieved. The treasure is assessed to be worth more than two hundred thousand pounds. Half goes to the Crown as treasure trove while the rest is divided between Dick and Biggles and his friends as previously agreed. Dick follows his father into the merchant navy where, as "Doubloon Dick", he proudly displays in his cabin his souvenir from the expedition: the black banner of Lous Dakeyne. Category:Plot summaries